


An Unexpected Call

by ZoroDragonSlayer



Category: Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Fluff, Post-COHF
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-06
Updated: 2015-08-06
Packaged: 2018-04-13 07:39:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4513521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZoroDragonSlayer/pseuds/ZoroDragonSlayer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Maryse Lightwood is working late when she gets a strange call from her oldest child.</p>
            </blockquote>





	An Unexpected Call

Chapter 1: Late Night Phone Call

Maryse was working late that night, trying to catch up on some paperwork sent to her by the clave. She had been busy lately with helping Isabelle prepare her and Simon’s wedding and with training Jace and Clary’s daughter. She rarely had time to herself lately, and now in the twilight hours, when she’d much rather be in relaxing in bed, she was forced to catch up on the mountain of work that came with running an institute.

Jace and Clary had moved out last weekend and Isabelle was at a dinner with Simon’s family, so the last thing she expected, that night, was a distraction. She expected even less that the distraction would come in the form of her eldest child.

As she was adding the finishing touch to a documentation of finances her phone began to ring, shattering the sleepy silence of the library. She glanced at her phone and was shocked to see Alexander’s name on the screen, she and her son had been on uneasy terms since his relationship with Magnus was revealed, and they rarely ever see, let alone spoke to, one another after they had adopted a warlock babe.

She shook herself from her thoughts and quickly answered the phone, the sound that greeted her from the other side was the loud wail of an infant in full blown tantrum mode.

“Hello?” She called, tentatively. When there was no response she tried again, “Alexander?”

“Mom?” was the equally unsure response before his voice faded into a hushing sound, attempting to placate the screaming babe.

“Yes Alec, what’s wrong?” she asked, even though she could clearly hear what the problem was.

Maryse could feel the waves of nervousness coming through the phone, she resisted the urge to speak again and simply waited for Alec to speak. “Never mind,” he finally said, “It was stupid for me to call.”

“Alec wait!” she called, desperately wanting to continue this brief conversation with her son, even if there was a wailing child in the background. “Please tell me,” she murmured, “what can I do for you?”

After a few moments of wail filled silence, Alec responded. “I can’t remember it,” he murmured, so softly, Maryse almost missed it.

Maryse scrunched her eyebrows in confusion, “Can’t remember what?” she asked.

She heard a sigh from the other end, “the ballad you would sing to us at night,” he said, ashamedly, “I can remember the words, just not the tune.” So that was what he wanted, why was he so broken up about it, though? She was about to ask why he was so upset when he continued, “You would sing that to me almost every night, and now I can’t even hum the tune.”

So that was it, he was upset about forgetting; he was ashamed of forgetting something he deemed important from his childhood. “Now you listen to me Alexander Lightwood,” she said, sternly, “There is no reason to be upset about forgetting something like that. It was just a lullaby, forgetting the tune doesn’t mean that you have committed a crime punishable by death.”

“I know,” Alec sighed.

“Now that that’s settled,” Maryse continued, “What on earth have you done to my grandson to make him scream like that?”

An exasperated and tired chuckle traveled down the line, “He’s been like this for the past two days,” Alec moaned, “No matter what we try he refuses to sleep. Magnus is starting to threaten using magic to force him to sleep but he never will because we are afraid of what it could do to the babe. Max was never as fussy as this!” he whined tiredly.

Maryse’s heart momentarily clenched at the mention of Max’s name before she chuckled at Alec’s plight.

Alec continued, “Magnus had to leave because of an emergency, and so I was left here with the babe. He was screaming and I got the idea to try and sing to him when-“

“-When you realized you had forgotten the tune,” she finished for him, laughing at his current bout of misfortune, “Now I understand.”

“Yes,” Alec confirmed after a short pause. There was another, slightly longer, pause before he spoke, hesitantly, “and I was wondering…” Alec tapered off at the end.

“Yes?” Maryse asked after a few moments had passed, the babe still screaming in the background.

She heard an intake of breath before Alec burst out, “I was wondering if you would hum the tune while I sang the ballad to him!”

Maryse was taken aback, “Y – You – What!?” she stuttered trying to process the unusual request.

“I was wondering if you would hum the tune of the ballad while I sang it to him,” Alec repeated in a much calmer, more confident voice, “I can’t remember the tune so I thought that If you could hum it for me on speaker, then I can sing it to him.”

Maryse gazed around the empty library, still a little shocked by the request. “Al – Alright,” she stuttered.

“Great!’’ he exclaimed, a sigh of relief escaping his mouth, “Just give me a minute to put you on speaker.”

Maryse waited patiently at her desk for Alec’s go ahead, finally his voice filtered through, sounding fuzzy and far away, “Ready when you are Mom!”

She softly began to hum the ballad, the tune bringing back memories of when her children were young and afraid of the dark, refusing to go to bed without hearing the song. After a few moments, Alec’s voice came through, his voice was deeper, but no less melodious than her own. About halfway through the song, the screams had been reduced to sniffles; by the end of the song the only sound to be heard has Alec and Maryses’ mingled voices.

She heard a soft chuckle on the other end and smiled softly to herself. Alec would make a wonderful father, she thought, loving and kind, and never putting anything before his child’s needs. After several long moments of silence, Maryse was about to hang up the phone, thinking her few minutes of bonding were done, when Alec’s voice, once again, came through.

“Still there Mom?”

“Yes Darling.”

There was a pause and then, “He finally went to sleep! Thank you so much!”

“It was nothing. A moth – parent,” she amended, “always has time for their children.”

There was another moment’s pause before, “I love you Mom… It was nice to hear your voice.”

Maryse smiled into the darkness, “I love you too dear. I hope to hear from you again, soon,”

“Yeah,” he responded, followed by yawn.

Maryse chewed her lip for a moment before asking, “Maybe I can come over tomorrow to visit you three?”

Alec was quiet on the other side and Maryse feared she had spoiled the moment, then he spoke up, “Maybe the day after tomorrow? Now that he is finally sleeping, Magnus and I will probably spend tomorrow doing the same.”

Maryse smiled again, “Oh love, the fact that you think that is possible is proof that you have yet to become a full-fledged parent.”

She heard his confused muttering through the phone and laughed loudly at his expence, “I love you Alexander, and I’ll stop by tomorrow.”

“Love you too, Mom”

With that, they said their goodnights and hung up. Maryse spent the next few minutes staring happily at her desk, her mind a million miles away. Eventually, she shook herself out of her daze to continue her chore of paperwork, excited for the coming day.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my very first attempt at fanfiction, constructive criticism is much appreciated.


End file.
